1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display panel inspection apparatus and inspection method for inspecting a thin display panel formed of, for example, liquid crystal elements, organic EL (electric luminescence) elements, plasma display elements and FEDs (field emission devices).
2. Description of the Related Art
Inspection of a liquid crystal panel or the like requires a time for mounting the liquid crystal panel on an inspection table of an inspection apparatus, a time for positioning the mounted liquid crystal panel with respect to a probe unit, a time for inspection, and a time for removing the liquid crystal panel from the inspection table after the inspection is completed. Therefore, the conventional inspection apparatus is large in scale and costs high.
Since the conventional inspection apparatus is large and expensive, there is a demand for compact and inexpensive inspection apparatus. It is expected that the reduction in cost of the inspection apparatus will lead to reduction in manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal panel itself.